Bedside – yea, I think I will be including that element into my story. Not sure when yet but it will be there
Resa – uh… sorry. But its not getting any better so brace yourself. :)
The Best Guesst – Actually, you're idea is kinda similar to what I was thinking. As far as earning his keep
Chapter 5: Suspicion
Every day and every class period, Lance always finds himself thinking about Keith. He finds himself watching Keith in class, keeping mental notes. He is just always so quiet and reserved. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just seems… off for Keith. Even in classes without Keith, he always seems to be thinking about him. He is still making it through classes (with Hunk's help, of course) but just always has Keith on his mind. He just can't help this feeling that something is wrong… very wrong.
Ever since that day, they hadn't mentioned anything to Keith about going out. They felt they had just made him feel worse, so they didn't say anything else about it. Lance couldn't help but think Keith had wanted to go with them but something was stopping him, something bad.
Lunchtime has somewhat returned to how it was. Keith was talking again and eating as well. Lance had started worrying when Keith stopped bringing a lunch for a little while. As it was, he hardly ate anything anyway. He started bringing food again but it was still a simple sandwich and chips. Lance wondered if he even had any other food at home.
His eyes widened when a horrible thought occurred to him. He shook his head. Nah, that probable isn't what's happening.
So far, Lunch had gone well. They were all talking and discussing their day, Keith included.
"So we've got our first project in English." Lance finally chimed in, looking at Keith. "Pidge and Hunk have already partnered up." He shot Hunk a glare, who just smiled and shrugged back. "So you wanna be my partner?" Lance grinned.
"Oh, uh, yea. That sounds good. I don't have a partner yet anyway." Keith smiled.
His smile is starting to get just a bit brighter, Lance thought and returned a smile. "So…" he wasn't sure if he should ask this but, "do you wanna, like… come over? Or I could come over?" Lance saw Keith freeze for a second. He must have just realized what the partner work meant. "Well, 'cause, you see..." Lance continued, trying to explain a bit, "We won't be able to do it all with the time we have in class. Some of it will have to be done outside of class." He saw Keith look down at his food seemingly deep in thought.
There was a short pause before Keith responded. "I guess you're right. Uh, how 'bout your house this Sunday. But I'll have to leave at exactly 5."
"Alright," Lance smiles, "that sounds like a plan!" The bell rings, signaling the end of their lunch period. "We'll sort out the details next period."
The last ten minutes of English was set aside specifically for working on their project. That is when Lance moves to the desk behind Keith to sort out their plans for Sunday.
"So," Keith must not have noticed Lance had moved behind him, because he startled when he heard the other boy start talking. "We've got a three part assignment over The Scarlet Letter."
"Y-yea." Keith turned sideways in his desk to face Lance a little better.
"We have to choose four important quotes from the book to analyze, design and create the scarlet letter from the book, and we… uh…" Lance thought for a minute, "Shit, I forgot what the last part was."
Keith smiled at him as he pulled out the rubric for the assignment. He set it on Lance's desk so they could both see. "The last part is to create a diary entry from the point of view of one of the characters."
"Oh yea," Lance grinned and continued reading the assignment. "It says it can either be from the point of view of either Hester, Pearl, Roger, or Dimmesdale." Lance thought for a minute. "Ok, we could easily split the work evenly." He pointed to Keith before continuing, "You seem to be good at designing, so you could do the scarlet letter design. I could do the diary entry. Then we could each choose two quotes to do."
Keith nodded. "That sounds fair."
"Cool! We can start on it this Sunday!"
Then the bell rang and they both headed out for their next class.
During dance class, once again, Lance couldn't concentrate. This time it was because of their plans for Sunday. He was excited to finally hang out with Keith outside of school, but at the same time nervous. He was nervous because his family could be very loud and crazy sometimes. Seeing as Keith is very quiet and reserved, he feels like he might be a bit uncomfortable at his house. Though, Lance knows that his family will love him. They are just that kind of family, warm and welcoming. He lives with his parents, two younger sisters, and a younger brother. He has an older brother, Mateo, but he has already moved away to College. His dad will be gone this Sunday so it'll just be his siblings and mom.
He eventually realizes his body is moving automatically with the rest of his class, so he gets through class with relative ease, despite being in his own thoughts most of class time.
Lance hears a soft knock at the door around 2 pm on Sunday. Before he can answer the door himself, however, his eleven-year-old sister gets there first.
"Laaaance! There is a handsome boy at the door for you!"
Lance's eyes go wide as he picks up his pace to the door. He can feel heat rising up his neck. He reaches the door and sees his sister grinning evilly at him. "Dios mio, Maria! Shoo!"
She giggles and skips away, mumbling something about 'boyfriend'.
Finally, he sees Keith standing on the porch looking a little red himself. Lance laughs, a bit embarrassed. "Sisters." He motions for Keith to come in. "That was Maria, an absolute pain in my ass."
"Lance!"
Lance flinched when he heard the reprimanding tone of his mom. "Ay, lo siento, mama."
A plump lady, about a head shorter than Lance, came into the room holding a dish rag. "What have I told you about those words in front of your younger siblings?" Just as she said that, another little girl came into the room behind her.
Lance sighed. "Keith this is my other sister, Sophie, and my mom, Rosa." He saw Keith smile softly at the two. Lance turned to his mom. "Mama, this is Keith. He's my partner for my English project."
"Aaah Keith, yes. I've heard about you." Rosa smiled. She walked up to him and placed her hands on his cheeks. "Ay, you are so skinny. You need meat on your bones."
Lance could see Keith stiffen under her touch but smiled a bit sheepishly.
Lance cleared his throat to get Rosa's attention. "So, where is Henry?"
Rosa dropped her hands, turning to her son. "Oh, he's with Maria. Something about playing the Incredible Hulk." She chuckled then put her hands up to shooed them off. "Okay, you two, have fun working on your project. I've got to get started cooking."
Lance smiled back at her and led Keith to his room. Lance dropped onto his bed and Keith sat at his desk. It was a somewhat tidy, a few things scattered about. There was a small desk, a bed, a couple bookshelves with anything but books on them, and a dresser with a TV on top. It was simple and nice.
"So, how'd you even get here? I never heard a car pull up." Lance finally broke the somewhat awkward silence.
"Oh, uh, I walked."
Lance's eyes widened. "What? Really? We could have picked you up."
Keith shook his head. "Oh, no. It's fine really. You aren't that far from me."
"Alriiight." Lance gave him a bit of a suspicious look but decided not to push further. "Well I guess it's time to get started!"
Most of their time was spent talking, with Lance telling the occasional joke. He was hoping to get Keith out of his shell a bit. They did get some work done however, so the evening wasn't a total waste. Keith was mostly working on his letter design while listening to Lance, chiming in with his own comment once in a while. Around four-o-clock, Rosa came into the room saying dinner was ready.
Lance got up and headed for the door. He looked back when he noticed Keith wasn't following. He was still sitting down, sketching out his design. "Uh, hey, you coming?"
Keith looked up at him looking confused. "Oh. I'm eating too?"
"Well, yea! You think I would just leave you here while we all ate?"
"Oh uh, well I don't want to take your food." Keith looked down at his hands in his lap.
"Dude. There is more than enough food to go around. I promise," Lance replied mater-of-factly. Keith still looked a bit unsure but followed anyway.
Rosa and the siblings were all already sitting at the table when they come it. They both sit down, Rosa says grace and tells them to help themselves. Everyone digs in, chatting happily, and Lance notices Keith hesitate a bit.
After a moment, he finally asks, "W-what are these?"
The whole table gets silent, looking at Keith. Lance sees him shrink a bit under the attention.
Maria spoke next, sounding completely unbelieving. "You – you don't know what tamales are?"
"Maria." Rosa spoke with a warning tone. She looked to Keith. "It's alright, hon. Help yourself to any of the food." Her smile was warm and comforting.
Keith filled his plate with a couple tamales, rice, and beans. Lance notices he has no problem clearing his plate and asks for seconds, a bit sheepishly. His mom smiles and Lance know she takes that as a compliment that Keith wants so much of her food. Lance couldn't help but think there was more to it. His thoughts only seem to be furthered when Keith clears his plate a second time but doesn't ask for more. It seems Rosa was about to say something when Keith shot out of his chair.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry. I've really got to go." Keith goes to the sink to rinse off his plate. Rosa tells him not to worry about that.
Lance finally notices the time: 5:03. Before Lance can say anything to Keith, he's bolting out the door with his bag in hand, expressing his gratitude for the meal.
No memory this time, sorry. There will be more though. So Lance is definitely beginning to suspect something. He just doesn't know what yet. Let me know what y'all think! As for me, well… I'm sure some of y'all have heard about Hurricane Harvey. Well, I am in one of the affected counties from the hurricane. I will say that I have not experienced too much flooding in my area. Thank the stars! Hopefully it stays that way. If anyone reading this is also in an affected area, please stay safe! Until next chapter,
NyteXade
